Time's Curse
by pjesmile
Summary: The Time Keeper walks the world, weaving time into beauty. Jack Frost, a guardian, with a life that has pretty much returned to normal after Pitch's invasion. But Jack draws the time Keepers attention with one question, and she decides to answer it. "What if Pitch had got to me first?"
1. Chapter 1

The Time Keeper wanders, lost again, wondering what to do next. She is good at finding things to play with, but now she's run out of ideas. She sees a scene in her crystal shard, a plinth almost identical to the one that Manny gave the Guardians. It just so happened that this scene was one of Santa's castle, now a regular meeting place for the five guardians. Five guardians, how interesting. The Time Keeper can't figure out why Manny had done it. The only reason it worked was because Jack hadn't been a guardian at all. She wonders what would have happened if Jack frost hadn't been there to help.

Apparently Jack wonders the same thing, as this is the topic of conversation at the moment.

_Jack is sitting on a railing, again, and Bunny is leaning against the wall. Tooth is flitting about the place, and North is attempting to keep Sandy from falling asleep. In fact, the whole scene isn't too much different from the one that took place when Jack was brought there the first time._

"_What do you think would have happened, if I had accepted Pitch's offer?" Jack asks tentatively._

"_Vat do you mean Jack?" North asks, looking up at him._

"_Well, I was just wondering how things would be different…"_

"_If you signed on with him?" Bunny asks "I think you're better off here, mate, as much as I hate to say it."_

_Tooth speaks up. "I think we should be grateful that you didn't, Jack."_

"_Yeah, I guess you're right. I was just curious." He said, jumping off the banister._

How curious. Jack is such an intuitive boy, the Time Keeper thinks. Smiling, she knows she has just found a new design to weave. She waves her hand, and disappears.

* * *

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I was just curious." He said, jumping off the banister. Nobody had time to respond, before a voice behind them startles them all.

"Curiosity killed the cat." The voice was twinkling, and unreal, as was the woman it belonged to. The first thing they saw was her hair, completely black , and floating as if caught in a breeze, though there wasn't one. That was complemented by her eyes, a deep, deep blue that almost matched her dress. Her dress looked like it had been taken, and woven from the night sky. It was almost black, but if you looked closely you could see the blue, and it had just a few pinpoints of what could be stars. Her face was so beautiful, it almost hurt to look at. She looked ethereal, unreal, all knowing.

"Who are you?" Jack was the first one to break the stunned silence. She cocks her head, considering.

"I will be whoever you think I am." She said, and here eyes caught Jack's attention. They glimmered and pulsed and swirled and… changed. They were never the same from one moment to the next, and they mesmerized everyone there. She started to walk around the room, and they followed her, never letting her out of there sights.

"Yes, but what is your name?" Jack asked, this time, he sounded almost half asleep. She looked puzzled for a second.

"I… am not entirely sure I know anymore." Suddenly, everyone jumped, freed of the trance. She had flickered, and then appeared in a different place, still pacing around the room.

"Vat are you?" North asked, suddenly scrutinizing.

She waved her hand, and… flickered again, appearing just a few feet away from the… flicker. "Well, that is easily explained. I am the Time Keeper. I keep, control, and care for… time." She smiled, and glanced sideways at them. "Everything I have is made from time."

"But," Tooth started, "I thought Father Time-"

The Time Keeper scoffed, and brushed off the thought. Flicker. "Oh, that old buffoon. No, I am nothing like him. He sees that time does not stop, but it is so much more then that." Her eyes light up as she speaks, but then dim again. "But, you wouldn't understand it. Anyway," Flicker, "I am not here to discuss me." She stopped and faced them, standing right in front of the globe. And the crystal stand.

"Then why are y' here?" Bunny asks, advancing.

She looks at Jack. "Because of you." Flicker. Jack jumps back, startled, because her movement brings her inches away from his face

"Why's it always you who brings the trouble Jack." Bunny asks.

Jack holds his hands up in protest. "I swear I didn't do anything!"

She laughs. "Of course, you didn't _do _anything. But all it takes is a question. And for your question, it would have to start long before any of this." And she taps her foot on the ground. Two small doors slide back, to allow the stand to rise, before the shocked eyes of the Guardians.

"How did you do that?" Tooth asks.

"I though only Manny could." Santa agrees.

Her mouth twists, but she says nothing about Manny. In stead she looks at Jack. "Well, Jack, do you want to know?" She asked, stepping back.

"Know what?" He asked, still very confused.

Instead of answering, she took a small scrap of sheer fabric out of her sleeve. " 'Be careful what you wish for.' Isn't that a phrase?" She looked at him again. And she looked back at the plinth. She tossed the scrap towards it, but as it flew it grew, to cover the entirety of the stone, stand an all, like a veil.

"But… what did I wish for?"

She laughed again. "You wanted to know how things would be different, if you had gone with Pitch. Well," Her smile widened as his eye went round. "Let's find out." And before Jack could do more than raise his hand to try to stop her, she spoke a word, and the world vanished.

* * *

**Hey! Look, a new story!  
**

**This story makes me very happy, and I think that is will go places. I think you guys will love it.**

**Stay updated on this new, exciting story, and on my other, possibly less updated but still equally other cool story, Brightest Midnight. It's coming my friends... soon...**

**Please, review, suggest, favorite, follow, whatever. You are awesome.**

**-pjesmile**

**Disclaimer: I do not own rise of the Guardians, but I am an avid fan, and I write my fiction so others can enjoy it.  
**


	2. Chapter 2

Everything remained black for a long while, and Jack just... floated. No, he drifted. And then, suddenly, there was firm, cold ground beneath his feet, and when he opened his eyes, he found himself standing at the edge of a lake. His lake. It was night outside, and everything looked strange. Familiar, but very strange. He looked over to where Jamie's house, and the town, should be, but they weren't there.

He was about to go and inspect this phenomenon, when he heard a sound. It was laughter. Very, very familiar laughter. He turned slowly, disbelieving, but there he was. Jack Frost was standing, in the clothes he died in, blissfully unaware, laughing like a maniac at his newfound powers. He started to slide across the ice, his staff in hand, laughing and slipping. And Jack, by the edge of the lake, was so confused. He could remember what had happened; he could see it very clearly. Now he was actually seeing it happened, as an outsider. He knew what would happen, but still watched it take place.

But then something distracted him, something he did not remember. As dark figure was watching him from the tree line, following him with yellow eyes. Jack wondered if Pitch had really been there, and he had just never noticed, or if he was there as a result of whatever the Time Keeper had done.

He had been so engrossed in Pitch that he had not noticed his past self wander towards the small village that he had once called home. Jack did not want to go, mostly because he knew what would happen, but it didn't seem to matter. The landscape changed around him, as if he were walking with himself, but he had not moved at all. He noted that Pitch had also moved, following Jack.

Jack shook his head, thoroughly confused. Ad thought occurred to him, and her resolved to ask the Time Keeper, if he ever encountered her again. He forced himself to be brought back to the present. He watch himself kneel down, and be passed through be the child. He winced, as the memories came back to him. But then something changed. Pitch started to speak.

"It's so unfair, isn't it." He leaned up a tree and looked, not at Jack, but at the village.

"What is?" Jack could see and hear the wariness in his voice.

"We do all we can, but still no one see us." He glanced over at Jack.

"Why not?" The wariness was gone now, replaced by curiosity, and a hint on longing.

"If I tell you, will you help me? I need all the help I can get, Jack." He turned now, to look at Jack full on.

"Help you with what? H-how could I help you?"

"I have a plan, but I can't do it alone." He said, fervently.

"A plan? A plan to do what?"

Jack never heard anymore, because the darkness descended again. But the look in Pitch's eyes before he left made him think that he didn't want to hear any more.

"You could probably guess what he was going to say, anyway." Jack turned, startled, and saw her behind him.

"How are you doing this? How are you controlling everything?"

She laughed. "I'm not controlling it, just helping with a little bit. The events play out naturally, they just need a bit of a push to get them started."

Jack looked curious "A bit of a push? What does that mean?"

She sighed. "Pitch was watching you during your timeline too, Jack. That wasn't me. In your world he, after seeing you playing with your powers, left, thinking that he wouldn't be able to convince you. To make this happen, he just had to be persuaded to watch a little further."

Jack ran his hand through his hair. "I still don't know why you're doing this."

"Doing what?"

"Bringing me hear," He gestured at the empty space, "Showing me all this. What purpose does it serve?"

"Some things need to be taught."

Jack sighed again. "You never told me your name."

She laughed again, surprised. "And I wasn't lying when I said I'm not sure what it is."

"Not sure?"

"Jack, I am almost older that Manny. There are a great deal of things I'm not sure about." She paused for a moment, considering, "I think my name might be Thyme."

"Thyme... well, that's ironic, to say the least." Jack said, smiling at her, but she was no longer paying attention.

"I have to go." She looked directly at him. "And so do you." A moment after Thyme left, the scene shifted again, and again Jack was left alone with the ghosts of a past.

* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not own RotG, and I doubt I ever will, but I hope you can enjoy me stuff in their universe. **

**Thank you for reading, Reviews, opinions, ideas, and help are always welcome.**

**I hope you enjoyed.**

**...**

**pjesmile**


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